Automatic door



Nov. 21, 1950 R. EVERITT AUTOMATIC DOOR Filed Sept. 25, 1946 PatentedNov. 21, 195

UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE Amer/[Arie noon Ronald Everitt, Aurora, ill.

Application semember 25, 1946, Serial No; 699,232 3 Claims; (em-m7) Myinvention, which pertains to doors of the type employed on garages andsimilar structures has as an important objective the provision of asimple and inexpensive door structure which may be swung about ahorizontal axis to expose a relatively large opening such as the vehicleopen ing a garage, hangar, or the like, and which may be automaticallyactuated by a novel vehicleoperated mechanism.

Overhead doors save space and are easier to operate than conventionaldoors hung to swing about a vertical axis. They are particularlyadvantageous where the opening i large since the weight of thedoor maybe counterbalanced and the effect of wind pressure substantiallyreduced. But as heretofore made,. they have been quite costly since ithas been necessary to form a number of transverse joints in such doorswhich impart suficient flexibilit to the door structure to 7 permitmovement along a curved track or ide Doors for large openings such ashangar doors are oftennece'ssarily automatically actuated, employingdiverse forms of mechanical and electrical apparatus to accomplish theoperation but substantially all such mechanisms heretofore known havebeen relatively costly and require continuous maintenance to insureoperation. The simplicity, strength and light weight of my door permitsthe employment of a simple and durable mechanical door-actuating meanswhich will operate reliably without excessive maintenance throughoutextended periods of time.

' Briefly my door comprises a rigid arcuate section of suitable materialsuch assheet metal or wood reinforced as necessary and provided witharms extending radially inwardly to a horizontal shaft or other supportadapted to permit partial rotation of the door. The arms extending fromthe deer may be disposed either within or without the building dependingon Whether or not it is desired to swing the door upwardly over theroof, as would be the case where external arms are employed, or upwardlybeneath the roof as when the arms are within the building. Suitableseals are formed on the door, the walls, and the roof of the building toprevent the entry of rain and wind; A counterweight is customarilyemployed to hold the door in a closed position and to close the doorautomatically after opening, suitable catches being provided to retainthe door in either pesiti'on;

Since only simple arcuate movement is required to actuate the door, myautomatic opening device comprises a system of levers or other meanslinking the arms extending inwardly from the door to a trackwayextending outwardly beyond the door and hinged for movement about ahori-- zontal axis. The trackvvay is arranged in such manner that as thewheels-of a vehicle engage the trackway, a movement of the track'wayabout the horizontal axis is produced which is in turn communicatedthrough the system of levers cansing the door to operate. As the vehiclepasses through the door and the rear wheels leave, the trackway, thedoor is closed by the counterweight; Both the door herein described andthev door actuating mechanism are particularly ,well adapted for use ongarages of the type described in my Patent No 2,282,324 dated May 12,1942, the description of which, in so far as'consistent, is incorporatedand made a part hereof by refer q U l Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a partially sectioned diagrammatic elevation of my automaticdoors; 1 r

Figure 2 is a top view of the device illustrated infFigurel; p h H Efigure 3 is a section taken along the lines 3-3 of Figure 1; and p Figurel is a modification of the device illustrated in Figural. k

As shown inFigure 1, a garage, generally designated IE}, having sidewalls It and a roof lZ is provided with a trackway 13 extendingoutwardly beyond the ends of the walls 11, the opposite end of thegarage being closed by an end wall M. The trackway 13 includes ahorizontal web or base 16 of sufiicient width to receive the wheels of avehicle and may be provided with one or more vertical flanges I! toguide the wheels and preyeh't their leaving the trackway. The outer endsof the trackway i3 be flared as at Hi to assist the driver of thevehicle iii placing the wheels the trackway. If desired, rollers l9 maybe jiirn'alled to the outer ends of the traekway I3 to permit a slidingmovement thereof amng the sin; face of the ground, or along a suitableplate of hard material. The trackway I 3"is provided with a trahsversehinge 21 disposed between the of the trackway which may suitably comprisa pin 22 extending throuh e'ars 23 formed miss: grally with the we 16'.The inner end of the trackw'ay i3 is secured to a shaft 24 whichisjournalled in the side walls I I of the garage. Upwardly extending arms26 aresecured at one" end to the outer ends of the shaft 24, whichextend outwardly beyond the walls I l. k I

The side walls II and the roof 12 define a v6 hicle opening closed by adoor, generally desigo: nated 21, which comprises a rigid sheet orplurality of sheets of suitable material such as wood or metal having aconfiguration similar to a surface section of a right cylinder. The endsof the side walls II are provided with an outwardly extending flange 28and are curved to receive a channel 29 formed, for example, by a reversturn of the edges of the door 21. Arms 3| are secured as by welding tothe outer edges of the door 21 and extend radially inwardly to a centercorresponding to the axis of the cylinder of which the door 21 forms asurface segment. Center hubs 32, preferably integral with the arms 3 I,are journalled to horizontal stub shafts 33 which may be suitablysecured to the walls l I or to other suitable support means. The upperend of the door 21 is provided with a downwardly extending flange 34which, When the door is in closed position, engages a channel 36 formedin the end section of the roof thus forming a weatherproof joint whichin combination with the channel 29 and flang 28 effectively seals theopening against the entrance of wind and rain. Gaskets may, of course,be employed in these joints, if desired.

Arms 31 extend outwardly from the hubs 32 and support adjustablecounterweights 38 of sufficient mass to substantially overcome theweight of the door 21 and assist in raising and lowering the door. Thelower edge of the door 21 is suitably notched as at 39 to receive thetrackways l3 and permit the lower edge of the door 21 to engage the sillof the garage. A flexible plate 4! of a material such as rubber may besecured to the underside of the trackway l3 and to the floor of thegarage ID to seal the space between the floor and the bottom of thetrackway when the door 21 is closed. Alternatively, the plate 4| maycomprise a section of metal hinged to the underside of the trackway I3and disposed to an angle to the floor of the garage IQ in such mannerthat when trackway I3 is lowered, the edge of the plate 4| will slidealong the floor, and as the trackway rises, will return by gravity to aposition in. which it closes the opening between the trackway and thefloor.

A link 42 is pivotally secured to the free end of arms 26 and to arms 31between the hub 32 and the counterweight 38, the length of the link 42being such that with the door 21 in closed position, the hinged centerportion of the trackway I3 is maintained a distance above thehorizontal. As the front wheels of the vehicle entering a garage engagethe trackway [3, the weight of the vehicle forces the trackwaydownwardly moving the outer end 19 thereof outwardly and causing apartial rotation of the shaft 24. This in turn moves the arms 26 in aclockwise direction, drawing the link 42 to the right and forcing thedoor 21 upwardly about the shaft 32 into open position, as indicated bydotted lines in Figure 1. As long as the wheels of the vehicle engagethe trackway [3, th door 21 will remain open and, if the wheel base ofthe vehicle is less than the overall length of the trackway l3, it isobvious that the door 21 will remain open until the rear wheels of thevehicle leave the trackway, at which time the door 21 will be free toclose by the action of counterweights 38. If the wheel base of thevehicle is excessively long, it is of course obvious that suitablecatches may b employed to maintain the door in an open position. As thevehicle leaves the garage, the reverse of the above described sequenceof operation occurs, the rear wheels of the vehicle engaging the innerend of 4 the trackway l3 and thus forcing the door 21 into openposition.

It is of course obvious that several other types of linkage may beemployed to interconnect the trackway and door. A modified form oflinkage is illustrated in Figure 4 wherein the operating mechanism isdisposed within the walls of the garage, a shaft 32 being secured to theinner surface of the walls II and the arms 3| being suitably secured tothe inner surface of the door 21. In this modification arms 43,preferably somewhat longer than the previously described arms 26, aresecured to the shaft 24. A cable 44 extends from the end of arms 43 overa winch 46, having a handle 41, to arms 31. The winch 46 may be ofconventional design secured to a wall ll of the garage. If desired, awinch shaft 48 may extend through the wall H of the building and thehandle 41 be secured to either end thereof to permit operation ofthewinch from the inside or outside of the garage. As the wheels of avehicle engaging the trackway I3 force the trackway downwardly, the arms43 are moved by shaft 24 in a clockwise direction, drawing the cable 44around the winch 46, thus pulling the arms 3| and the door 21 upwardlyto open position beneath the roof l2 of the garage. Since the door 21 inopen position is wholly within the garage, the roof i 2 is provided witha downwardly extending flange 49 which engages the upper edge of thedoor 21 in its closed position forming the weatherproof joint. If it isdesired to open or close the door 21 manually, the winch 48 actuated bythe handle 41 may be employed.

From the foregoing it may be seen that my door can be simply andinexpensively formed and provides a highly durable, strong closurewithout the necessity of weakening the structure by providing one ormore horizontal joints therein. All of the advantages of mechanicaltypes of overhead doors are preserved without the necessity ofincorporating expensive, complicated and troublesome mechanism forguiding a door along 3 an irregular path. Because of its curved crosssection, my door has the ability to resist extraordinary wind pressures,and because of its inherent strength can be formed of lighter materials.The simplicity of my door-actuating mechanism obviously eliminates manyof the troublesome complications in mechanisms necessarily employed bythe more complex devices of the prior art and will therefore operate forextended periods of time without maintenance or repair.

I am aware that in view of the foregoing disclosure those skilled in theart will be enabled to modify the herein described structures asrequired by local conditions and I do not therefore wish to limit myselfspecifically to the arrangement of parts herein described except in sofar as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A door and means for opening the door on the approach of a vehicle,said door being mounted on alined horizontal pivots, one at each side ofthe door, for arcuate rotary movement about said pivots to open andclosed positions, said means for opening the door comprising an armrotatably mounted on one of said pivots and connected to the door tooperate the door when the arm is moved, a track device outside the doorand leading to the doorway and comprising two members hinged together ona horizontal axis at their meeting ends, the other end of one of saidtrack members being fixed to a rockable horizontal shaft and the otherend of the other of said track members being unrestrained, a second armrigid with said shaft and connected by link means with the said dooroperating arm, whereby when the door is in closed position the hingedends of said track members are held in raised position and whereby whena vehicle traverses said track members the hinged ends thereof will beforced downward and operate said horizontal shaft, arm members and linkmeans to open the door.

2. A door and means for opening the door on the approach of a vehicle,said door being mounted on alined horizontal pivots, one at each side ofthe door, for rotary movement about said pivots to open and closedpositions, said means for opening the door comprising an arm rotatablymounted on one of said pivots and connected to the door, a rockablysupported horizontal shaft connected by link and lever means to said armto move the door when the shaft is rocked, and upwardly inclineddownwardly movable means rigidly connected with said shaft to rock thesame, said movable means having a portion extending outside the door inposition to be traversed and downwardly moved by an approaching vehicle.

3. A door and means for opening the door on the approach of a vehicle,said door being mounted for rotary movement about a horizontal axis toopen and closed positions, said REFERENCES CITED The followingreferences are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 759,188 Ott May 3, 1904 1,740,020Johnson Dec. 17, 1929 2,143,439 Friend Jan. 10, 1939 2,225,785 KrockerDec. 24, 1940 2,319,136 Karns May 11, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 233,109 Great Britain May 7, 1925 524,370 Great BritainAug. 5, 1940

